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Whitney, Coyotes get past Flames in shootout

Feb 24, 2012 - 6:14 AM Calgary, AB (Sports Network) - Ray Whitney scored the lone goal of the shootout to lead the Phoenix Coyotes past the Calgary Flames, 4-3, at Scotiabank Saddledome.

After Olli Jokinen's backhander went wide of the net to open the shootout, Whitney skated down the center of the ice and ripped a wrister from the slot that beat Miikka Kiprusoff to the stick side.

Kiprusoff would not get beat again, but the Flames' Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla also failed on their shootout attempts as Phoenix improved to 9-0-1 in the month of February.

Whitney, Daymond Langkow and Shane Doan scored in regulation for Phoenix, while Mike Smith recorded his ninth straight win with 21 saves.

Tanguay, Jokinen and Matt Stajan lit the lamp for the Flames, who lost for the third time in four games. Kiprusoff stopped 26-of-29 shots in defeat.

"We're not as sharp as we need to be. I'm not happy with our last four games," Flames head coach Brent Sutter said. "We need to play every game like it's the playoffs."

Calgary held a 2-0 lead after one period, but the Phoenix netted two goals in the second frame to knot the game at two.

The first came just 1:32 into the middle stanza when Langkow trailed a 2-on-1 rush by the Coyotes and one-timed a pass from Whitney past Kiprusoff.

Then, with 2:52 remaining in the second, Keith Yandle grabbed an errant clearing attempt by the Flames at the left point and fed a pass to Oliver Ekman-Larsson, whose one-timer from the high slot was redirected into the net by Doan.

Phoenix took the lead with its third straight goal 10:27 into the third period after Calgary's Krys Kolanos fell down near his own blue line while he had the puck and Whitney grabbed it for a short breakaway. Whitney faked to the his left before deking right and sliding the puck past the prone goaltender.

But the Flames were awarded a late power play and Jokinen cashed in when Iginla's hard pass from the left circle deflected on net off a defender and Jokinen stuffed it home with 1:46 left in regulation.

Kiprusoff made one save in overtime, while Smith did not face a single shot in the extra period to force the shootout.

Calgary tallied both of its goals in the first period on two stickhandling mistakes by Smith.

The Flames took a 1-0 lead at the 8:35 mark of the opening frame after Phoenix's Lauri Korpikoski lost control of the puck near his blue line and it slid across to the left circle.

Smith left his net to play the puck, but his backhanded clearing attempt went right to Tanguay, who then attempted a cross-ice pass that deflected off the skates of Korpikoski and right into the vacated net.

The Flames took a two-goal advantage into the first intermission after another errant clearing attempt by Smith was one-timed towards the net by Cory Sarich from the right point.

The shot was stopped by a crowd in front, but the puck wound up on the stick of Tanguay and he fed a pass to Stajan in the slot, where he ripped a shot past the glove side of Smith with 4:22 left in the first period.

"We didn't feel like we were awful in the first period, but we could have executed better," Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett said. "We had a couple of bad breaks, but we knew we had to get ourselves back in the game. We came out and played better in the second."

Game Notes

Phoenix has won six straight and eight of its last nine games against Calgary...The Flames went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Coyotes were 0- for-2 on the man advantage.